Dorothy Canfield Fisher was a famous American author in the early 20th century and a
major proponent of the Montessori Method. She spent her adult life in Vermont, where
she became friends with Sarah Cleghorn. Sarah Cleghorn was a Quaker author and
activist from Vermont who did collaborative work with Fisher. In 1943, Cleghorn
moved to Philadelphia. Anna Pettit Broomell took care of her as her health declined
and edited Cleghorn's poetry in 1956. Broomell was a Quaker author of children’s
books; the introduction to her most successful volume was written by Dorothy
Canfield Fisher in 1935.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher was born on February 17, 1879, in Lawrence, Kansas. Mrs.
Fisher received her BA from The Ohio State University in 1899 and her doctoral
degree in Romance Languages in 1904 from Columbia University. She also received
honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, the University of Nebraska, Middlebury,
Swarthmore, Smith, Williams, Ohio State University, and the University of Vermont.
She married John Redwood Fisher in 1907, with whom she had two children. Her son
James was a captain and surgeon during World War II and died during a raid in the
Philippines in 1944. There is material about her son and his death in this
collection. Mrs. Fisher died in 1958 in Arlington, Vermont at the age of 79.

Sarah Cleghorn was born on February 4, 1876, in Norfolk, Virginia. She lived in
Wisconsin and Minnesota before moving to Vermont at the age of 9. In 1895, she
graduated from Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester, Vermont and also studied at
Radcliffe College. She began her teaching career and activism in 1915 and was an
activist for many causes throughout her life. She moved to Philadelphia in 1943 and
died in 1959.

Anna Pettit Broomell was born on December 3, 1887, and graduated from Swarthmore
College in 1907. She earned a M.A. from Columbia University and married George
Lupton Broomell, Swarthmore Class of 1906, with whom she had two children. She lived
in Philadelphia her whole life and died in 1972.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection contains material collected by Anna Pettit Broomell and primarily
consists of the writings and correspondence of Anna Pettit Broomell, Dorothy
Canfield Fisher, and Sarah Cleghorn. It includes letters from Wallace and Zephine
Fahnestock, A.J. Muste, Norman Thomas, David Baumgardt, the Broomell family, and the
Friends Council on Education. The letters between the three women are mostly
personal, but include discussions of their works and activism. The collection has
several drafts of manuscripts and poems. There are also journal entries from Sarah
Cleghorn and material collected for Sarah Cleghorn’s memorials and oral history
project. There is published material from and about Dorothy Canfield Fisher and
Sarah Cleghorn, and a draft of a book about Dorothy Canfield Fisher and written by
Anna Broomell.

This Collection was orignally catalogued at FHL as the Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn
Papers (RG5/027). Since all three donations came through Hannah Petitt Broomell,
the papers have been combined and recatalogued under the call number RG5/276 to
reflect their common provenance.

This donation also included a dressing gown which was worn by Hannah Bacon
Thompson at Swarthmore College in the 1880s; it has been catalgoued and stored
separately.

Access

Permission from the Director or Curator of Friends Historical Library must be
obtained before researchers may consult the manuscript, War Journal of a Pacifist.. The remainder of the collection is open
for research.

Use Restrictions

Copyright has not been assigned to Friends Historical Library. All requests for
permission to use the material to write a book about Sarah N. Cleghorn must be
submitted to her Literary Executor, the Estate of Sarah Fisher Scott. Friends
Historical Library may permit the use of these papers "for any general reference
work, papers, essays, etc."

Preferred Citation

[Indicate the cited item or series here], Broomell-Cleghorn-Fisher Papers,
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

The University of Vermont Special Collections Library holds the Sarah Norcliffe
Cleghorn Papers which include correspondence, manuscripts of poems and prose
works, notes, diaries, accounts and account books, newspapers clippings, printed
and published material, memorabilia, manuscripts of other people's works, and
photographs relating to the Cleghorn, Dalton and Hawley families.

SELECTED SEARCH TERMS Materials catalogued separately

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Friends
Historical Library (TRIPOD). Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings: Researchers are
advised to search by subject and author, when applicable.

Correspondence between Anna Broomell and Mrs. Henderson, which
includes a packet of notes, poems, correspondence between Anna
Broomell and Ruth Henderson, and Agnes and Anna, list of articles
from the Atlantic, and handwritten pages.

Correspondence between Elizabeth Yarnall and Dorothy Canfield Fisher,
Anna Broomell, Sarah/Sally Cleghorn, William Fischer, John Arnett,
Margaret Thomforde, Arthur Bertholf, and unknown. Manuscript
entitled Visit with Sally Cleghorn by Elizabeth Yarnall and
Christmas card from Robert and Elizabeth Yarnall with a quote from
Sarah Cleghorn. Elizabeth Yarnall was interested in Sarah Cleghorn
and was recording her for schools to hear, despite her deteriorating
health. Dorothy Canfield Fisher was writing to Elizabeth Yarnall to
ask for information on Sarah Cleghorn.

Sarah Cleghorn Memorials1939-1959, n.d.1 folder3

Folder originally labelled: S. Cleghorn, or Letters with
interesting characterizations of S. Cleghorn, or Letters to A.P.B.
about S. Cleghorn by various people. Includes: manuscripts Sarah
Cleghorn at Chestnut Hill and Memorandum by Sarah Cleghorn,
Prayers from Christmas 1939 by S. Cleghorn, Living Arrangements
for Elderly People, and manuscript remembering S. Cleghorn from
Chestnut Hill Meeting. Pamphlet entitled Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends…Agenda 277th Annual
Sessions from 1957. Also Sarah Cleghorn’s Itinerary and assorted
correspondence, including correspondence between S. Cleghorn,
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Anna Broomell, Helen Congdon, and Elizabeth
Yarnall, and correspondence with various meeting houses. These
materials were possibly gathered for Sarah Cleghorn’s memorial.

Captain James C. Fisher1945-1948, n.d.1 folder3

Photo of her son with a note to Anna Broomell from Dorothy, dated
February 13th, 1948. Passage of a letter about the photo of her son
from German writer. Newspaper article entitled Capt. Fisher Died
Near Jap Prison: Rangers’ Doctor, Mortally Wounded in Raid, Son of
Noted Novelist. Newspaper article entitled Captain James C. Fisher
(A Tribute), dated February 28, 1945. Photo of a man in surgery who
was wounded in the war, possibly Mrs. Fisher’s son.

Edward Way Case1949-1953, n.d.1 folder3

Correspondence between Sarah Cleghorn and Harold Boulware, Attorney
at Law; Edward Way; Julian S. Wolfe, Attorney and Counselor at Law;
Miss Motley; South Carolina Penitentiary; and letter forwarded to S.
Cleghorn from Francis Fisher Kane and Thurgood Marshall. Sarah
Cleghorn was assisting Edward Way, who had been accused of
murder.

Correspondence from Ellen Starr Brinton of the Swarthmore Peace
Collection; Frederic Tolles at the Friends Historical Library and
Sarah Cleghorn’s literary executor, Mrs. J.P. Scott, about the
donation of her papers; and the memorial service for Sarah
Cleghorn

Ser.2. WritingsWritings of Anna Broomell1939, n.d. 1 folder3

Typed journal entries, letter from Anna Broomell to family, and
manuscript entitled The Log. Many handwritten manuscripts written by
Anna Broomell and journal pages, including Summer People in Vermont
and continuations of The Log. Includes list entitled Cartons; list
of dates and years entitled Dorothy Canfield Fisher; handwritten and
typed pages of notes, poems, memos.

Typed manuscript with sections entitled Foreword,
Outline, The Making of a Novelist,
The Novels, Short Stories, Vermont Tradition,
Vermont Tradition, Introductions and Letters,
Unlimited Liability, Dorothy Fisher’s Unique Contribution,
Last Decade. This manuscript was written by Anna Broomell
and describes Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s life in detail and includes her quotes.

Published material by Dorothy Canfield Fisher1929-19441 folder3

A Plea for Normal Childhood by Dorothy Canfield Fisher from The
American Child: A Monthly Bulletin of General Child Welfare, Vol. XI,
No.3, March 1929, and published by The National Child Labor Committee,
New York City. Women, Education, and Democracy by Dorothy Canfield
Fisher from The Journal of the National Education Association, Vol.
28, Number 7, October 1939. Almera Hawley Canfield by Dorothy
Canfield, from Women’s Day, May 1943. One Day in Vermont by Dorothy
Canfield Fisher, from Christian Herald, June 1944. Pamphlet entitled
Report on Old Age by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, published by the Book of
the Month Club. Pamphlet entitled Vermont Tradition: The Biography of
an Outlook on Life by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, published by the Book of
the Month Club, which is a review of her book. Typed manuscripts
entitled Article Written for Japanese Women, James and Lucretia
Mott, Shop-keeping Saint, Pentecostal Fire,
and Goya’s Blacksmiths by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

Written material by Sarah/Sally Cleghorn 1942-1954 n.d.1 folder3

The Homelike Name of God by Sarah Cleghorn from Fellowship, March
1942. Manuscript entitled Report to the Overseers of Chestnut Hill
Meeting on the matter of Sarah N. Cleghorn and Stapely Hall. Sarah
Cleghorn’s handwritten copy of article from Philadelphia Inquirer on
Religion from August 1950; manuscript entitled In Memory of Mrs.
Shirk, 1952, letter to Friends of Soviet Russia, her planned schedule
for each day after reaching the age of 78; poem by Sarah Cleghorn;
Saffron Memories by Sarah Cleghorn, and manuscripts entitled This I
Believe, Rethinking Quaker Principles, and Gandhi. Newspaper
articles entitled Poetess at Stapely Hall to Mark 80th Birthday and
Sarah Cleghorn, Poet, Dead at 83.

Entries from Sarah Cleghorn’s diaries and journals.1947-19541 folder3

Sarah Cleghorn’s Book with notes, poems, prose. The only entries in
1953 Diary with sections of S. Cleghorn’s journal. These are the only
entries in S.N.C.’s 1952 Diary, with notes from 1953. Journal entries
from 1952 entitled Desk Diary 1952. Diary 1947, S. Cleghorn with
journal entries.

Journal of Sarah/Sally Cleghorn from 1950 through
1953.1950-19531 folder3

Blessing the Animals, Champion of Girls' Brains,
Family Huddle on War, Four Fields of Pain,
A Happy Crusader, Homemade Observations
on Sleep and Dreams, Hypothesis from Mein Kampf,
Increase of Torture?, Pioneer Mother -- Anne Story
(2 manuscripts, both incomplete), Portrait of Albert Schweitzer (book review),
Religion and the Torture of Animals (3 manuscripts),
Soap Its Own Soap-Dish, Stubborn Child,
The World is a Child, The Worsted Church

Ballad of Gene Debs, Ballad of the Vermont Children's Aide,
The Blackwater Tantrums, Contemporary Opinions of Thackeray,
The Curiosities of Fashion (in The Outlook, September 12, 1910), The Feel
of Jail, The Hearth of Life, Henry Peaslee and His Aunt Emma,
The Homelike Name of God, Instead of the Thorn, the Fir Tree,
Irish Fairies, Let Us Pray,
Living by Intimations, Mr. Charles Raleigh Rawdon, Ma'am,
Oh, How Delicate They Are, The Poltroon,
Respect for the Body, The True Ballad of the Camden Boy,
The True Ballad of the Extraordinary Fortitude of William Griffin,
The True Ballad of Glorious Harriet Tubman, The True Ballad of Lionel Licorish,
Turnpike Stories, Utopia Interpreted (in The Atlantic Monthly, July
and August 1924), The World is a Child

Footnotes to Threescore1 folder4

Footnotes to Threescore by Anna Pettit Broomell (photocopy of
manuscript) and Book of Common Prayer with notes concerning family
pasted in.

Many pages of handwritten manuscripts, notes, poems, and prose, mostly
written by Anna Broomell with a focus on Sarah Cleghorn. Typed
manuscript Chapter XV ----And Then What?, unknown author. List of
chapters to The Religion of Lovingkindness.

Booklets entitled A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly and
Living A-Top of the World by Charles P. Morlan with
Living Prayer by Ella Syfers Schenck. Newspaper article
entitled Aymar Embury, Architect, Dead from November 1966.
Newspaper article entitled Nation Observing Its Library Week,
with "Mrs. Broomell" written on the top. Paper
entitled Miss Sarah Cleghorn’s Itinerary. Newspaper article about the
death of Miss Esther Fisher. Prayers for a Winter Morning from
Swallowfield Fellowship Farm. Newspaper article entitled Victims of
Angina Pectoris Must Learn to Live with It. Monthly prose from Dorothy
and Paul Herbert, Big Sur, California.

Photos1 folder4

Photo of girls on porch, on back: "Dorset Bees". Photo of Dorothy
Canfield Fisher, on back: "This is a recent picture. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher
in the center". Photo with picture saying "This fountain is in memory of
Dorothy Canfield Fisher" with quote from Emerson. Professional photo of
Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Two photos of Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s home
with letters to Sarah Cleghorn on the back.